ANECDOTE ABOUT MY SON

When my son was not even 3 years old yet, one day he found a blue ball on our front yard. He went back inside the house and with excitedly he showed me the ball. "Look mama, I found this ball on our front yard!". Since I was busy cooking, I only glanced at him and said, "Well, that's nice!"

My son went back to the front yard to play with the ball while I also went back to my cooking. But after I thought about it, I realized that now is a good time to teach him about respecting other people's stuff. So I called him back. When he came back, I asked him if the ball belong to him and he said no. I told him that the ball must belong to one of the neighbour kids because both of my neighbours have children around 5 to 7 years of age. I asked Kai Kai if one day he accidently lost his ball will he feel sad, and he said yes. I reminded him of the time when he lost his pinguin doll in the park and how sad he was at that time. So I told him to put the ball in open space in our front yard so if the owner saw it, he/she can pick it up. Just like any 2.5 yrs old, my son refused to give that ball back. I thought, well maybe he is just too young and plus I am busy cooking, so I let him played with the ball again.

About 10 minutes later, he ran back to the kitchen with that ball again and he said "Mama... since I found this ball in our yard, that means this ball belong to me now!" Wow.... I believe it does actually, I mean, if you dig your yard and then your found a case of gold, won't that belong to you? What ever you found in your property belong to you right? Even a 2.5 yrs old know that....

I told my son like this,"Well I think you are right that ball belongs to you now, but remember when you lost your pinguin doll and you feel so sad? Just imagine the owner of that ball feeling right now. He must feel sad too, right? Don't you pity him for loosing his precious toy? So I think it is still better if you leave that ball outside for the boy to find it back" But his answer still the same "NO!" And he ran back outside to play.

10 minutes went by and suddenly he burst back to the kitchen. He said "But mama... isn't it his own fault for playing with the ball so carelessly until he lost it?" I guess what he wanted to say was it's the boy's fault for loosing his own ball. Then I answered him back like this "Sure, it's his fault for being not too carefull when he play with his toy, but... how many times have you not carefull with your toys also but somehow I always save your toys? So why don't you do the same to that boy?" My son look at me and without saying anything he went back to play again outside.

Not long after, maybe another 10 - 15 minutes he walk to the kitchen again and said "OK mama, I want to give the ball back to the owner, but which one is the owner? How would I know who I have to give back this ball to?" I looked at his face and his face looks so happy for making the right decision to be a good boy. So I took his hand and we walked to each of our neighbour's front doors and knocked....